Sierra defense plays key role in shootout

TRACY - Garrett DeVillanueva stopped two first-half Kimball drives deep in Sierra territory, but his second interception turned the tide for the Timberwolves.

Dave Campbell

TRACY - Garrett DeVillanueva stopped two first-half Kimball drives deep in Sierra territory, but his second interception turned the tide for the Timberwolves.

With Sierra clinging to a three-point lead and the Jaguars on the move, DeVillanueva made his second interception at his 5-yard line with 2 minutes, 58 seconds left in the opening half. One play later, Anthony Cota took a lateral after a short pass to Dakota Conners and raced 80 yards to steal the momentum from the Jaguars on the way to a 58-45 Valley Oak League win for the Timberwolves at Don Nicholson Stadium.

"Kimball is a good team, a dangerous team," Sierra coach Jeff Harbison said. "They showed how quickly they can score.

"But this is just a big win for our team."

Kimball (2-5, 1-3 VOL) roughed the kicker on the conversion following Cota's 80-yard burst, so the ensuing kickoff was from the Jaguars 45. Jesus Perez recovered Sierra's on-side kick at the Kimball 30, and seven plays later Cota had his third touchdown on a 3-yard run and Sierra had a 31-14 halftime lead.

"We made some big mistakes at the end of the first half," Jaguars coach Steve Anastasio said. "We had a chance to possibly go up 21-17 and instead make the big mistake followed by a couple of more mistakes.

"And then when you get down after playing so hard for so long, it's tough to get over that hump to come back."

Cota added three more touchdowns in the second half to finish with six - giving him 27 for the season - but the Timberwolves (6-1, 3-1) kept the tide from turning thanks to an outstanding third-quarter performance off the bench by quarterback Guillermo Nunez. Running in the Wildcat formation, Nunez repeatedly faked to Cota and kept the ball up the middle behind Aaron Thiel and Chuck Good, gaining 105 yards in the quarter and finishing with 141 yards on 15 carries and a 7-yard touchdown run.

"The line was opening huge holes for me, and Cota did a great job lead blocking," Nunez said. "It was wide open and I just ran."

Cota had 215 yards on 20 carries and 100 receiving yards on four receptions, with touchdown runs of 2, 3, 20, 21 and 55 yards. Jayson Manuta added a 3-yard touchdown run, and Joshua Gonzalez hit a 35-yard field goal.

Take away the two interceptions by DeVillanueva, and Zack Johnson put up some impressive numbers for Kimball, completing 14 of 26 passes for 343 yards with an 11-yard touchdown run. He had touchdown passes of 25 and 42 yards to Charles Walker, 39 yards to Damon Jackson and 82 yards to Evan Owens.